Little Princess
by shaneequa
Summary: AU. Everyone copes with loss differently; this is Jenny’s story.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Little Princess  
Author: Shaneequa  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything… sadly.  
Summary: AU. Everyone copes with loss differently; this is Jenny's story.  
Author's Note: I thought I'd give you guys something while I finish Lost and Found (which is coming to a close :[ )This was inspired by the (French) movie Ponette… you don't have to have seen the movie to read this though (: I tired to make this fic less OOC than it would be otherwise, so sorry if you find it way out of character. Jenny's about six in this story, so that should have things clearer.  
Happy reading! Review pls (:

Chapter 1

Jennifer Shepard stared at the bed where her mother was lying, her big green eyes looking at the still figure. She had her favorite teddy bear in her arms, while she sucked her thumb on the other arm.

She had awoken from a nightmare that she couldn't remember; just that it scared her. Like every time she had a nightmare, she went into her mother and father's room wanting the comfort and security that their prescencepresence gave her.

"Mommy?" Jenny whispered tugging at her mother's arm. She usually woke up with that simple gesture.

Jenny moved over to the other side of the bed not seeing her fahter'sfather's form there. Being a Colonel, he was always away on trips for his job. Jenny didn't mind;, it gave her the opportunity to be with her mother,. Her her favorite person in the whole world.

"Mommy, wake up," Jenny said shaking her mother. She got closer to her mother wrapping her small arms around the older woman's body. Then, she whispered, "I had a bad dream, Mommy."

No response.

"Mommy, are you mad at me?" Jenny asked her mother once again squeezing her arms together that were around her mother.

No response.

"Mommy?" Jenny asked getting scared. This was unlike her mother at all. She usually responded the moment that the floors outside of the room would creek. She would open her arms to her daughter and do her best to comfort her, offering her hot chocolate with marshmallows. Even on the most tiring day, when Jenny would come to the room, her mother would comfort her.

"Mommy?" Jenny repeated turning her mother's head. "Mommy, this isn't funny!"

Nothing.

Tears started to fall down Jenny's eyes as she shook her mother again opening up her eye lideyelid, which usually moved when her mom was faking with her. Her eyes were unresponsive.

Jenny got out of the bed with her teddy bear still in her hand. She placed the bear down on the floor.

"You watch her, okay Mr. Bear? I'll be back," Jenny said pointing at her bear then looking back at her mother. "Watch her."

Jenny did the first thing that she could think of, running down the stairs to the phone in the hallway. She dialed the number that her father made her memorize praying to God that she got it right. When on the third ring, her father's answered, she sighed in relief.

"Daddy!" she exclaimed.

"Jenny?" Jasper answered confused. He was in his office trying to have a meeting with a General who was so busy that he couldn't meet with him on normal business hours. He didn't like that he was away from his family and sometimes, when Jenny was persuasive and when his wife was tired, she would let Jenny call him in his office. It wasn't something that went well with the people he was in meetings with, but he liked it.

He looked down at his wrist watch seeing that it was 0250. "Honey, it's two in the morning, where's your mother?"

"She's not moving Daddy," Jenny whispered scared.

"She's just playing with you, sweetheart," Jasper answered putting a hand up to a man who he was suppose to be conversing as if to say one more moment.

"No! I checked! I opened her eyes and they didn't move!"

"Where is she now?"

"In the room, Mr. Bear is watching her," Jenny confirmed. Her tears have stopped pouring at the comforting voice of her father, believing that he had the answer.

"That's good," Jasper replied, his forehead wrinkling in worry. "You've done good."

"Is mommy okay?" Jenny asked hoping that her father had found a solution.

"She's gonna be fine, princess."

"So I can ask her for a hot chocolate now and she'll give me some?"

"Tell you what, you go into your room and sleep. Bring Mr. Bear with you, and in the morning I'll be home and everything will be fine," Jasper said seeing the annoyed look of the General that he was supposed to be having a meeting with.

"Promise?"

"I promise, princess."

"Okay, bye daddy!" Jenny said enthusiastically skipping up the stairs. She stopped at the master bedroom picking up Mr. Bear from the floor and walking to her mother. She kissed her mother in the forehead like her mother did when she was sick.

"Everything will be fine in the morning, Mommy," Jenny whispered to her mother. "Daddy says so."

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Ps. I know I didn't give you guys much on this chapter but I hav finished with 6 chapters so far so hang with me (:


	2. Chapter 2

Ha! Fast upate for this one (:  
Hope you guys like it!  
Reviews pls (:

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Chapter 2

Jasper Shepard had called the paramedics as soon as he hung up the phone, telling the General that there was an emergency at home. The General wasn't too happy with that, but Jasper Shepard had stormed out of the office before he could state his complaints.

When Jasper Shepard got there, the paramedics were already in the master bed room putting his wife in a stretcher.

"What's wrong with her?" Jasper asked panting from running up the stairs. One would expect him to be in full shape but when his mind and body were in overdrive, worrying about what happened to his wife, he was thrown off the loop.

"I'm sorry sir," one of the EMTs spoke up as his colleguecolleague covered her body.

"No," Jasper whispered walking to the door. "She… she can't be…"

"We won't know the causes unless you would agree to an autopsy. We'll bring her to the morgue," the EMT replied. By now, they should've gotten used to his, but after almost five years on the job, one glimpse at the raw emotion in the eye of someone who just lost a loved one was still heartbreaking. "I'm sorry, sir."

Jasper ran his hands through his face looking at the shut door at the end of the hall.

Jenny.

"Where are you taking her?" Jasper's voice asked raspy.

"Bethesda Naval is the closest, Sir," another EMT replied. "Unless you have anther preference."

"No, Besthesda's fine."

"Would you like to ride with…"

"No," Jasper said shaking his head and walking down the hall. He stopped at the closed door of his daughter's room thinking about how her life is about to change as soon as he opened the door.

He stood there for another minute or two letting her having a few more minutes of peace before her world would shatter around her.

He took a deep breath. He was a Colonel for God's sake! Yet here he was so unsure of everything, and so scared about the impact that it would have on his little princess.

He finally turned the doorknob, seeing Jenny curled up in her blankets, looking up at her plain white ceiling.

"Hey Princess," Jasper greeted his daughter. She didn't move from her position. The only indication to him that she was still alive was the fact that her body's rising and falling as she inhaled and exhaled. "What are you still doing up?"

"I had a nightmare," she whispered, her voice smaller than he's ever heard it before.

"What about?" Jasper asked sitting at the corner of her bed, looking down at her face. She was sucking her thumb and clutching her teddy ebarbear close to her body.

"I don't remember," Jenny replied tears forming in her eyes making her green eyes sparkle with the reflection of the moonlight through her window. "Mommy's not okay, is she?"

"She's…"

"That's why those people came into your room. 'Coz she's not okay," Jenny continued a tear making a path down her cheeks. "You said she was gonna be fine in the morning."

Jenny sighed still not meeting her father's eye. "You lied. It's bad to lie."

"Jenny…"

"You're not gonna die too, are you?" Jenny asked her father sitting up against the wall of her big girl bed. She's heard from classmates about dying. They explained to her one dayone-day that it was like sleeping forever, never waking up, . tThat when someone sleepsleeps forever, they'll be at their happy place. Her mommy wasn't waking up anymore…

"No, I'm not," Jasper said shaking his head reaching out to his daughter.

"I don't wanna stay with Nana," Jenny stated crunching her button nose together. "She smells."

"You're not gonna have to stay with Nana. I'll be here," Jasper said being able to have a small smile on his face.

"Do you think Momma's better now? She won't cry anymore?" Jenny asked her father fingering the ear of her bear. "I don't like it when she cries."

"She'll be looking down at you with a smile on her face."

"Do you promise not to die?" Jenny asked him again.

"I promise not to die."

"You have to pinky promise to me," Jenny said holding her pinky up. "You can never break a pinky promise."

Jasper held up his pink hooking it to his daughter's. "I promise you, Jenny. I pinky promise."

"I miss her," Jenny said snuggling into her father's embrace.

"I bet she misses you too," Jasper said inhaling the scent that was purely his daughter's, . hHer innocent approach to life breaking his heart.

"You think so?"

"I know so."

Jenny nodded her head staying in her father's warm embrace. It didn't make the hurt gone, but it certainly helped.

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	3. Chapter 3

Sorry for the wait, I just got caught with school.  
APUSH is a nightmare, you can blame it for the lack of updates.  
Reviews, greatly appreciated !(:

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Chapter 3

Jenny was rolling her pink plaid suitcase, a matching pink bag pack was strapped onto her back and her teddy bear was clutched tight in her arms. It would be the first day that she would go into an exclusive boarding school. Her father was too busy to be able to take care of her and it was better for her to attend that school. Her cousin went to that school, a familiar face in the crowd.

It had been a month since her mother's death and she had barely seen her father after the burial services. It was like he was also buried down in the earth, except the earth was his job and he really was still breathing.

It would be the first day since then that she would see him. He was required to drop her off at the school to sign the paperwork needed for her to stay there seven days a week.

"You excited?" Jasper asked his daughter who was strapped in her booster seat at the back seats of his car.

Jenny looked wide eye outside the windows not replying.

Jasper shook that off as the initial response, it only has been a month and withdrawal could be expected. Should be expected, with the type of relationship that Jenny and her mother had.

"Anne goes to the school," Jasper said trying to fill the silence. "She's excited to see you again."

Still, Jenny was in her own little world, not at all paying attention to what her father was talking about. She was daydreaming about her mother. The red hair that flew with the wind and her perfect green eyes, both traits that Jenny had inherited and valued. Every time she looked in the mirror, straight into her eyes, she sometimes could see the shadow of her mother, the sparkle in her mother's eyes.

"I know it's gonna be different, Jenny," Jasper tried again. "But it's the best I can do. I have to work."

It was an excuse and Jasper knew that. He was trying to avoid looking at his daughter because her innocent green eyes looking up at him, almost pleading him to save her was something he couldn't take. He failed to save his wife from whatever it was that killed her; he wasn't going to fail Jenny. In his twisted mind, having Jenny far away from him didn't make him liable, it made her safe because other people were fit to raise his daughter than he was.

"You mom would've been proud," Jasper said knowing that it's what would snap her out of her little thought bubble. "Your mom would be so proud at what a strong princess you're being right now."

"You think so?" Jenny answered, her voice once again so small reminding Jasper of how she sounded like that frightful night that turned their lives one hundred and eighty degrees.

"Yeah," Jasper said. "She'd be prouder if you went out and met new friends. Settled in your new school."

_Are you really proud of me, Mommy?_ Jenny thought in her head thinking that her mother would hear her question. It was becoming a habit of hers, confiding all her thoughts to herself as if she was talking to her mother.

_I am, sweetheart,_ her mother's voice rang through her ears making her smile.

_I've been a good girl for you_, Jenny said proudly, her smile widening. She loved to make her mother proud. But what little girl didn't want to please their mother?

Jasper pulled into the gates of the exclusive boarding school stopping the car and opening the door for Jenny. Someone he suspected was a teacher ushered them inside.

"Colonel Shepard, we are honored that you picked our school for your daughter," the principal said as a greeting as he stepped inside her office, holding Jenny's hand in his to make sure that she wouldn't back out.

"You must be Ms. Jennifer," the lady said bending down keeping a critical eye on her.

Jenny looked up at the lady, sucking her thumb and clutching tight to her bear having no reaction to her.

"Well, Colonel," the lady said walking behind her desk to sit behind it. She reached over handing Jasper the papers. "Sign at the tabs and we shall go and bring your daughter to her new bedroom."

"I would like for you to give my daughter whatever she would want while here," Jasper said as he signed the papers in front of him. To him, it felt like a thorn was taken from his side, and yet another one was inserted. He wouldn't be able to see his daughter unless it was during the weekends, and even then he doubted that work would allow for him to do so. He was on the verge of being a Full Bird Colonel and it required more commitment and sacrifices for him.

"That would be arranged sir," the principal said with a fake smile on her face.

"Here," Jasper said handing her the pen and pushing the documents to her. Jenny sat there beside her father as the principal flipped over the documents to make sure that he didn't miss a spot to sign on. When that was over, she stood up from her desk leading them out into the hallway.

They finally stopped at a wooden door with a cherry finish.

"This is your new room," she said talking to Jenny then looking up to meet Jasper's gaze. He nodded his head motioning her to open the door for her.

Inside the room was a double bed. It was decorated pink and white, a very girly room, complete with a mini fireplace and a desk to study on against the window. There was a bookshelf half filled with books and other knick-knacks.

"You like it, princess?" Jasper asked his daughter who looked around at her new room. He and the principal looked expectedly at Jenny who nodded her head without even acknowledging the question.

_Will you find me, when I'm here, mommy?_ Jenny thought in her head as she looked around. Her mommy had never been there and she was scared that if she stayed there, she wouldn't be able to see her mother anymore.

_Of course sweetheart,_ her mother's voice echoed in her head. _I'll be with you, always._

Jenny nodded placing her backpack aside along with her suitcase. She sat on the bed with her bear looking up at her father with her big innocent green eyes.

"I'll leave you to say goodbye," the principal said leaving them alone and shutting the door behind her.

"You understand why I'm leaving you here, right?" Jasper asked his daughter sitting on the bed next to her. "It's not because I don't love you, Jenny. I do."

"Will you come back for me on Saturday?" Jenny asked him.

"Of course I will," Jasper said. _Another broken promise_.

"You won't forget me?" Jenny asked him again.

"I won't forget you," Jasper vowed. That was impossible, no matter how much he would even try to forget her, just like his mother, it would be impossible.

"Will I forget you?" Jenny asked scared. "I don't wanna forget you."

"You'll never forget me," Jasper said seeing her eyes water. "I'm your daddy, you can't forget me."

"How do you know?"

Jasper looked at her knowing it was going to be hard to convince her. He looked down at his watch taking it off. He took her arm and placed it on there securing it, the smallest it could go. It was still loose on her.

"When you think you're gonna forget," Jasper said placing her arm back to her side. "You listen to the watch."

"It tics," Jenny observed as she placed the watch next to her ear.

"Imagine, that it's my heart," Jasper whispered to his daughter. "It's still beating. I'm still alive."

"Because you'll never die," Jenny pointed out. "You pinky promised."

"That I did," Jasper said nodding. Jenny put Mr. Bear on his lap. He looked at her curiously. "What's this for?"

"So you won't forget about me," Jenny replied. "And when you need a hug, he'll give you one. He's good at hugs."

"Is he now?" Jasper asked taking the bear from his daughter's grasp. He stood up with the bear heading for the door giving Jenny one last hug. "I'll see you on Saturday. Make me proud."

Jenny nodded.

"Yes sir!" she saluted with the wrong hand, her left hand. Jasper looked at her chuckling as he walked down the hallway and drove off, placing the bear on what was Jenny's booster seat.

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